Summer reading scheme 2025: results from our six libraries

This summer we ran our reading scheme across six partner libraries in East London for the first time — up from three last year — and 87 children attended at least four of the six weekly sessions, with most attending all six. The headline number is the one we're proudest of: an average reading age gain of four months over six weeks, measured using the same simple running-record assessment our school mentors use during term time.

Four months in six weeks sounds almost too good, so it's worth being precise about what it does and doesn't mean. This isn't a substitute for a year of good teaching — it's a way of protecting the progress children have already made against what researchers call the "summer slide," the well-documented dip in reading ability that happens over the long break, hitting hardest among children who don't have easy access to books at home. Most of what we measured in September was children arriving roughly where they left in July, rather than behind it. Given that the alternative for many of these children was six weeks with no structured reading at all, holding steady would have counted as a win. Four months of gain is more than we expected.

What worked: pairing, not groups. Each child was matched with the same volunteer for all six weeks rather than rotating, which meant sessions two through six could pick up exactly where the last one left off instead of re-establishing rapport each time. Librarians at all six sites told us this was the single biggest difference from previous summer reading initiatives they'd hosted. We also kept sessions short — thirty minutes, not sixty — because attention, not enthusiasm, was the limiting factor for most seven- and eight-year-olds on a school-free Tuesday morning.

What we're changing: the six libraries had uneven turnout, from a full waiting list at our Forest Gate site to under-capacity at the two newest locations, so next year's outreach will lean more heavily on the schools themselves rather than posters in the library windows — a teacher's recommendation reliably beat any flyer we tried. We're also extending to eight weeks rather than six, since the data suggests gains were still accelerating, not plateauing, by the final session. And we're building in a light-touch check-in during the first fortnight back at school in September, because the real test of a summer scheme isn't the last day of August, it's whether the gain survives contact with a new school year.

Six libraries wasn't the ceiling — it was the limit of what our current mentor pool could staff well. If you're a librarian, teacher, or would-be volunteer in East London reading this and wondering whether your site could be site seven next summer, we'd like to hear from you.